Centrifugal dryer



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 1, 1962 INVENTOR.

Dec. 21, 1965 M. J. FENRICK CENTRIFUGAL DRYER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 1, 1962 Michael J Fenr/c/r IN VENTOR.

United States Patent Ofiice 3,224,589 Patented Dec. 21, 1965 3,224,589 CENTRIFUGAL DRYER Michael I. Fenriclr, 1807 Arrawhead Drive, Beloit, Wis. Filed June 1, H62, Ser. No. 199,479 2 Claims. (Cl. 2lil-374) This invention comprises a novel and useful centrifugal dryer and more particularly pertains to an apparatus for the continuous extraction of water or other fluids from a mixture of liquids and solids such as fibrous pulps including wood and paper pulps and the like.

The primary purpose of this invention is to provide an apparatus which will greatly facilitate the extraction of water from an aqueous mixture of water and solids and to effect this result by a continuous operation in contrast with a batch method of extraction.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a centrifugal rotating screening cylinder for centrifugally extracting water from a liquid maximum therein together with conveying means within the cylinder for effecting movement of the material from an inlet to an outlet and wherein the speed of rotation of the screening cylinder and thus the centrifugal force produced thereby for extraction of the liquid can be made independent of the speed of travel of the material through the apparatus by the conveying means.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus in accordance with the preceding objects whereby a single source of power may be utilized to impart rotary motion to both the centrifugal extractor and the conveying means housed therein and wherein the centrifugal force developed by the extractor may be substantially independent of the speed and travel of the material through the apparatus.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a suitable form of an apparatus in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view from the right end of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view in vertical longitudinal section taken upon a large scale substantially upon the plane ind-icated by the section line 33 of FIGURE 1 and showing the internal construction of the centrifugal separator and the material conveying means therein;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 4-4 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a further detailed view showing in vertical section one of the supporting rolls for journalling the centrifugal separating cylinder of the invention.

In the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, there is disclosed a pair of suitable supports as at and 12 between which is disposed for rotation about a horizontal axis an elongated cylinder 14 whose walls are provided with suitable screening or filtering orifices as at 16. In order to obtain the screening action, the cylinder itself may be constructed entirely of a suitable screening or filtering material of either a reticulate, or foraminous or vesicular nature, although a cylindrical body of sheet metal with suitable apertures 16 disposed uniformly over its area will be generally found to be satisfactory. Rotatably mounted within the horizontally disposed cylinder I4 is a conveying means which may conveniently take the form of an auger screw 18 mounted upon a shaft 20 extending axially of the cylinder and journalled in bearings as at 22 and 24- in the supports 10 and 12.

The cylinder is supported for rotation by means of a pair of rings or bands 26 and 28 at its opposite ends which are provided with circumferentially extending channels 30 and 32. These bands are fixed to the exterior surface of the cylinder in a suitable manner and serve both to support the cylinder and to effect rotation of the latter.

In order to support the cylinder there are provided suitable bearing supports, such as the brackets 34 and 36 which are disposed adjacent to and in parallel relation to the supports 10 and 12 and between which are journalled at each of the cylinder a pair of support wheels 38 and 40 as shown in FIGURE 2. These wheels ride in the channels 30 and 32 and thus serve to rotatably mount the cylinders for rotation about the above mentioned horizontal axis which is co-incident with that of the shaft 20 of the conveying means.

Carried by the support 10 is a housing member 42 which encloses the open end of the cylinder and constitutes a discharge means whereby material passing through the cylinder will be discharged downwardly from the discharge spout 44 of the housing 42, as indicated by the flow arrow in FIGURE 3. Similarly, at the other end of the cylinder there is provided a housing 46 comprising an inlet housing having an opening 48 by means of which material is introduced thereinto as shown by the arrow and which housing has its bottom provided with an inclined wall as at 50 to deflect the material into the interior of the cylinder. The auger 18 has the extremity of its thread diametrically reduced in conformity with the position of the inclined bottom wall deflector member 50.

Enclosing the cylinder is a chamber 52 of an imperforate nature, as shown in FIGURE 4, at which its lower end is provided with a discharge spout or opening 54. This chamber surrounds the screening cylinder 14 so that liquids passing outwardly from the cylinder under the effect of centrifugal force will be collected and discharged from the spout 54 to any suitable destination.

Secured to the extremity of the shaft 20 is a driving pulley 60. Power is provided from any suitable source, not shown, to both the shaft 20 and the cylinder 14. For this purpose, any suitable source of power such as electrical, not shown, is connected as by a belt 62 with a pulley 64 on a shaft 68 suitably journalled on the support structure 12 of the apparatus. A belt 70 connects a pulley 72 on the shaft 68 with a pulley 74 on a further shaft 76 and then about the previously mentioned pulley 60 on the shaft 20. Thus rotation is directly imparted to the auger screw comprising the material moving means within the cylinder. As shown best in FIGURE 2, the shafts 68 and 76 previously mentioned extend through the support 12 and upon the other ends are provided with pulleys 80 and 82 which through the belt 84 are connected to the ring 28. By a difference of the pulley diameters, it is evident that any desired speed of rotation can be imparted to the cylinder as compared to that of the conveyor screw 18 and its shaft 20.

If desired, any suitable speed change gearing can likewise be provided between the two extremities of the shafts 68 and 76 to effect a variation in the speeds of rotation of the cylinder and the conveyor means.

The operation performed by the invention is as follows: A continuous stream of a liquid and solid mixture such as wood pulp or the like is fed into the inlet means 43 from any suitable source. This is delivered by means of the inclined bottom wall 50 into the inlet end of the cylinder and by virtue of the rotation of the auger conveyor is caused to travel longitudinally of the cylinder eventually emerging at the outlet means 44. During this travel, the aqueous pulp is subjected to the centrifugal action of the rapidlly rotating cylinder so that the water content thereof is extracted through the strainer openings 16, the extracted water being collected in the housing 52 3 and discharged from the outlet 54 thereof. Consequently, the partially de-hydrated and partially dried material emerges from the outlet means 44 of the apparatus with a portion of its water content being extracted therefrom.

It will be obvious that by properly controlling the speed of travel of material through the device by regulating the speed of the conveyor through its driving means, and by also varying appropriately the speed of rotation of the centrifugal separator cylinder 14, various desired degrees of water extraction can be realized.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A centrifugal dryer for extracting liquid from a mixture of a material suspended in said liquid and comprising a horizontally elongated hollow screen, means rotatably supporting said screen inwardly of its ends for rotation about a generally horizontal axis, mixture inlet means and material outlet means positioned exteriorly of and communicating with said screen at the opposite ends thereof, a rotatable conveyor means extending longitudinally through said screen and adapted to continuously move material from said inlet means to said outlet means and having its opposite ends supported out of contact by said mixture and solely by said inlet and outlet means and exteriorly of said screen and said inlet and outlet means, means for rotating said screen and conveyor at different speed-s, a liquid collecting means at least partially surrounding said screen and collecting liquid expressed through said screen by centrifugal force and including a liquid discharge means, said inlet and outlet mean each comprising a stationary housing having an opening continuously communicating with the interior of the adjacent end of said screen and over the entire cross-sectional area of the latter, at least a pair of supports at the opposite ends of said screen, said inlet and outlet means being each carried by one of said supports, said supports each carrying a bracket projecting laterally therefrom and disposed beneath an end of said screen, said screen supporting means consisting of rollers mounted upon said brackets and rotatably supporting the screen solely at its underside adjacent its end-s, said inlet means housing comprising an inlet chamber with a mixture inlet opening at an upper portion of said chamber, said chamber having a bottom wall below said inlet opening sloping downwardly toward the adjacent end of said screen and directing the mixture introduced into said inlet chamber through said inlet opening by gravity flow into said screen, said conveyor comprising an auger screw having an end portion of reduced diameter and extending into said inlet opening and into close proximity to and overlying said sloping bottom wall.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein said means for rotating said screen and conveyor includes driving means for effecting rotation from a common power source, said driving means comprising parallel drive and lay shafts both journaled in one of said supports, a peripherally grooved ring fixedly secured to and embracing said screen at each end, said rollers engaging and supporting said rings within said peripheral grooves, means connecting a source of power to said drive shaft, a first belt connecting said auger screw to said drive shaft and to said lay shaft, and a second belt connecting one of said peripheral grooves to said drive shaft and lay shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 461,550 10/1891 Salomon 34-58 XR 557,939 4/1896 Aysu 210-374 569,677 10/1896 Snider 210-374 581,354 4/1897 Lapp 210-374 X 617,158 1/1899 Henderson 210-374 726,696 4/1903 Kasson 210-374 1,030,974 7/191-2 Coppage 210-373 1,038,173 9/1912 Meade 210-359 XR 1,804,108 5/1931 Pardo et a1 210-374 FOREIGN PATENTS 287,442 1929 Great Britain.

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner.

REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Examiner. 

1. A CENTRIFUGAL DRYER FOR EXTRACTING LIQUID FROM A MIXTURE OF A MATERIAL SUSPENDED IN SAID LIQUID AND COMPRISING A HORIZONTALLY ELONGATED HOLLOW SCREEN, MEANS ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID SCREEN INWARDLY OF ITS ENDS FOR ROTATION ABOUT A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS, MIXTURE INLET MEANS AND MATERIAL OUTLET MEANS POSITIONED EXTERIORLY OF AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID SCREEN AT THE OPPOSITE ENDS THEREOF, A ROTATABLE CONVEYOR MEANS EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH SAID SCREEN AND ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUSLY MOVE MATERIAL FROM SAID INLET MEANS TO SAID OUTLET MEANS AND HAVING ITS OPPOSTIE ENDS SUPPORTED OUT OF CONTACT BY SAID MIXTURE AND SOLELY BY SAID INLET AND OUTLET MEANS AND EXTERIORLY OF SAID SCREEN AND SAID INLET AND OUTLET MEANS, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID SCREEN AND CONVEYOR AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS, A LIQUID COLLECTING MEANS AT LEAST PARTIALLY SURROUNDING SAID SCREEN AND COLLECTING LIQUID EXPRESSED THROUGH SAID SCREEN BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE AND INCLUDING A LIQUID DISCHARGE MEANS, SAID INLET AND OUTLET MEANS EACH COMPRISING A STATIONARY HOUSING HAVING AN OPENING CONTINUOUSLY COMMUNICATING WITH THE INTERIOR OF THE ADJACENT 